1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a workflow management system for managing a workflow processing in which a processing object is document data read and digitized by an image reading apparatus, and particularly to a technique to improve processing efficiency in a workflow processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, in a workflow system in which a paper document is made an input, there is known a system which electronically processes a document used in a business processing, such as a receipt, a purchase order, a statement of delivery, or an estimate sheet. In a general structure of the workflow system as stated above, a paper document is read by an image reading apparatus, and an image area of document data is read by using specified layout information. An OCR processing is performed on the image area as the object, and character information is obtained. The information acquired as stated above is made to correlate with the content of each form and is stored in a database, and a workflow processing is performed using the electronic information.
Besides, as methods of ensuring the reliability of the electronic data as the object of the processing in the foregoing workflow system, various methods are proposed, and general methods include a method in which digitized data is made to have a hash value and the data is identified, a method in which an electronic signature is attached and the correctness of the document is proved, and a method in which a proof is provided by a time stamp (see JP-A-2002-230202, JP-A-2004-109127, JP-A-2004-151833).
Until now, although various business documents are required to store paper documents as originals, since the e-document law was enforced, digitized data, not the paper document, is accepted as the original.
Although the document data as the object of a processing in the workflow is required to have reliability in view of the influence on a later-stage processing in the workflow processing and the work efficiency, in the related art, only the correctness of the data is ensured, and it is not ensured whether the document used in the business flow can be truly handled in the business flow (for example, whether it is read in a sufficiently identifiable state at the time of scan processing). Thus, in the workflow processing of the related art, an approving person who performs an approval processing must perform a work while paying attention to such a point that the document data as the object of the process was accurately scanned, and there has been a problem in the work efficiency of the workflow processing and the reliability of the processing.
The invention has been made to solve the foregoing problem, and it is an object to provide, in a workflow management system for managing a workflow processing in which a processing object is document data read and digitized by an image reading apparatus, a technique of improving processing efficiency in the workflow processing.